The present invention relates to a method and system for the interactive visualization and examination of data. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for visualizing and interactively selecting, arranging and examining data displayed in a 3D graphical representation, wherein the data can be complex and/or dense.
Systems employing 3D graphic primitives to represent information are well known and have been employed in a variety of visualization systems. For example, scientific visualization systems have been employed for critical data analysis needs such as weapons design, turbine and fluid flow designs and seismographic exploration.
One of the advantages provided by such systems is that, due to the significant visual information processing capabilities of the human brain, it is generally easier for an individual to absorb and/or understand data represented visually than data represented in numerical or textual form. Further, complex and/or dense data which, if in a numerical or textual format would require multiple sheets of paper to be printed out or multiple screens of a computer monitor to be displayed can be represented on a single computer monitor screen in a well designed visualization.
Generally, early information visualization systems were too expensive for widespread use but recent increases in available microprocessor processing power, and a simultaneous decrease in the prices of microprocessor-based computer systems, have made such systems available to a wider audience, who can have varying degrees of sophistication. Such systems allow users to represent and examine complex and/or dense data in a 3D graphic environment displayed on the monitor of a personal computer. For example, published international patent application PCT/CA94/00609, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, teaches a system for displaying data with the 3D graphics primitives in a rendered 3D environment. The environment and the arrangement of graphics primitives is referred to in the application as a 3D data landscape, or visualization, and such data landscape systems have now been emulated in systems produced by a variety of companies.
As the data represented by visualization systems is often complex and/or dense, it is often organized in a hierarchy and arrangement selected by the visualization designer. The designer decides how information is to be displayed within the visualization, and tradeoffs are typically required in terms of the hierarchy employed and the form of the display. Despite the advantages provided by such 3D information visualization systems, problems still exist in that it can be difficult for a user to locate, select, regroup and display subsets of information from within the visualization.
It is therefore desired to provide a method and system to allow the user to interactively select, examine and regroup information displayed in an information visualization system.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for the interactive visualization and examination of data.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interactive visualization system comprising:
data access means;
processor means receiving data from said data access means and creating a rendered visualization representative of said data;
display means to display said rendered visualization to a user; and
user input means to receive input from said user to select a subset of said data represented by said visualization and to cause said processor to re-render said selected subset of said data in greater detail on said display.
Preferably, the data is arranged within a defined set of data value ranges on each axis of the visualization and the user selects a sub-set of data by selecting at least one range and the processor re-renders the visualization with the data in the selected range arranged in a new set of data value ranges of finer granularity.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of interactively visualizing and examining data, comprising the steps of:
(i) providing a set of data to be visualized;
(ii) defining a visualization model including at least one graphics primitive defined to be associated with a parameter of said set of data;
(iii) rendering a visualization of said set of data according to said visualization model;
(iv) receiving input from a user representing the selection of a sub-set of said set of data;
(v) re-rendering said visualization such that said selected sub-set is displayed in finer granularity;
(vi) repeating steps (iv) and (v) as desired.
The present invention provides a method and system for the interactive visualization and examination of data displays a set of data with graphics primitives, corresponding to attributes of the data set, in a rendered visualization. The set of data is arranged in the rendering with data items grouped in a set of ranges of data values, referred to as buckets. A user can interactively select a sub-set of the set of data and the visualization is re-rendered with the ranges of data values re-sized to display the selected sub-set with finer granularity.